Salvation
by LinnyLibrarian
Summary: Josef is out walking around town when he smells something. Blood. And he knows who the blood belongs too...ONE SHOT turned story. ON HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

The scent was every where. Blood. Mixed with the scent of something long dead. Vampire.

Josef rushed around the corner. He could smell the blood better now. This scent scared him. It made his normally graceful movements jerky. The blood was familiar.

Around another corner, Josef stepped into the trail. He could see the body now. Pale skin, blonde hair and blood. He slid to Beth's side.

Tapping her cheek, he said her name. "Beth. Sweetheart" He was scared. More scared than he'd been in many years. His best-friend's lover was lying bleeding in an alley reeking of vampire.

Beth's eyes opened. She was breathing shallowly. "Josef?"

"Hang in there, deary" Josef pulled out his cell phone but his vampire senses told him she was too far gone. She'd never survive the ride to the hospital. He set his phone down and took hold of her neck, lifting her closer to him. "You have to try to hang on, Beth. Please, for Mick"

"I'm so tired" Beth whispered. Her eyes closed.

"No. No, Beth" Josef shook her. "Beth, come on." He shook her again. "BETH!"

Terror gripped him. "I can't turn you. I can't do that to him!"

He warred with himself. He didn't want this friend to end up like him. Bitter and alone. He was afraid to hurt her like Sarah.

Her heart was dangerously slow. He couldn't wait any longer. Biting his wrist, he put it to her lips. "God, forgive me" he whisper, as she began to drink.


	2. Chapter 2

Mick opened the door his apartment. He could smell something wasn't right. Following his nose, he headed for his freezer. Opening the door to his room, he saw Josef sitting on the floor.

Josef raised his head, slowly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry"

Smelling the blood, Mick ran to the freezer. His fears were confirmed when he saw her laying inside. "NO!" He slammed Josef into the wall. "What did you do?"

"I had to. I'm sorry. I tried to save her. I tried." Josef didn't fight. He simply went on mumbling. Only a few words were coherent. Sorry. Wake. Sarah.

Mick couldn't understand any of it. Josef had more self control then anyone Mick knew. He wouldn't have attacked Beth. And he wouldn't have turned her for no reason.

Turned. Mick rushed to the freezer and flipped it open. Beth lay there. Her heart wasn't beating but Mick knew she was alive, or at least as alive a vampire can be. Brushing a hand across her cheek, he knew all he could do now, was wait and pray.


	3. Chapter 3

Beth didn't stir for days. When a week had pasted, Josef was sure he had doomed another woman to the fate of the comatose dead. Not alive but not dead. He nearly wept at his friend, who has taken to sitting beside the freezer day and night.

"I'm so sorry, Mick" Josef whispered, as they both sat beside the freeze. "I shouldn't have. I just-I just didn't know what to do."

"I understand" Mick whispered.

"I should have let you…"

"She would have died before I got there" Mick whispered.

"What is she now?" Josef muttered, forlorn.

Something stirred behind them. They both jumped, ready. Beth was struggling with the lid of the freeze. She managed to get it open in with a bit of effort. She sat up, looking at them.

"Beth" Mick whispered, as if disbelieving his own eyes.

Beth looked at him. "Mick"

"She's alive" Josef whispered. "I didn't-I didn't…"

"You did it" Mick said, gripping his oldest friend's shoulder for a moment before stepping closer to Beth.

"I'm…I'm a vampire" Beth said, sounding shocked and yet strangely calm about the idea.

"You were attacked" Mick whispered.

"Josef found me" The vampiress turned her attention to the other vampire.

The vampire in question, who had been thrilled that he had not doomed another woman, froze under the fledgling's gaze. He swallowed, before he nodded. "You were going to die. I didn't know what else to do."

"You saved me" Beth said, struggling to move out of the freeze on her own.

Mick moved quickly, scooping her up and setting her feet gently on the ground, but not releasing her. "I was scared I had lost you."

"It went dark…I don't remember anything after that" The lights above them in the ceiling, seemed to suddenly hold Beth's undivided attention. She stood there still for a long moment. "Everything is so different" she whispered. "Even better than the crystal…"

"Beth, you need to feed" Mick whispered, knowing that would one of her strongest urges this early.

Beth nodded.

"I-I'm going to leave you then" Josef said, feeling out of place.

"No!" Beth cried, rushing to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist like a child who didn't want daddy to leave. "Don't leave me."

Josef and Mick exchanged a look. "You have Mick, Beth. You'll be fine."

"But…But…But you're suppose to help." Beth sounded like child trying to explain something way above her level of understanding. "You turned me."

"Oh" Josef's eyes widened with understanding. "The Sire/Fledgling bond…"


End file.
